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West End News |
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Bibliothèque sans Frontiéres: NDG's free library project
By Matt Trowell, Special to The Suburban
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Have you ever read John Leonard’s “NEW BOOKS” — the monthly feature found in the Review section of Harper’s Magazine? To me, it’s the most consistently original, thoughtful, inspired and engaging look at contemporary literature I’ve ever had the pleasure of regularly reading. And, not unlike John Leonard, a former instructor, mentor and good friend of mine, Allan Westwood, has, since high school, also been suggesting books for my enrichment. The first two were William Manchester’s The Glory and the Dream, and Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror. Over a period of more than 30 years, Allan has carefully and patiently sewn the seeds and cultivated, in me, a discriminating and critical appreciation of literature that continues to open my mind and expand my horizons. For annual occasions, he has steadily furnished me with “new” volumes as gifts. Without exception, these “new” books are “used” books, not all of them necessarily that “old”, and, most of which he has acquired by carefully scouring various university and other used book sales.
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$"/>If not for his unfailing, dedicated and persevering generosity, I would likely never have known of, nor been immersed in, the intensely passionate and vividly textured work of James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Nor would I have found, during a period of near-overwhelming emotional turbulence and upheaval, if not exactly solace, at least a little reassurance in the remarkable semblance of my own humanity, among the bitterly honest portraits, so sharply drawn, and nakedly exposed, within the confines and surroundings of “Parkman”, Illinois, in James Jones’ Some Came Running. To think that a fictional American small town and its inhabitants of the late ‘40s and early 1950s could tell me so much about myself, my neighbours and my world, in the “digital” decade of the 21st century, in a Montreal-west borough, is a sobering slap in the face and a deeply-enlightening revelation into human nature and behaviour. And to have found it, of all places, in an “old” book!
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$"/>Had Allan never given me Barbara Tuchman’s Stilwell and the American Experience in China (after I mentioned reading Manchester’s American Caesar), I would probably not have learned of the incredible Agnes Smedley and some of her works, like Battle Hymn of China and The Great Road, (both of which I obtained, only by request, through the Westmount public library’s inter-library loan system, and which, as an NDG resident, I must pay an annual membership fee of over $100 to use). The list is long and the range endless.
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$"/>When I think of Allan, I think of how much more profoundly impoverished my existence would be had I not met him — how deprived, how much more ignorant, how hungrier, thirstier, brutal and cruel. When I think of Allan, I am grateful. He fed, nourished and enlightened me. And, because of all that Allan’s thoughtful gifts consistently give, I began to wonder why someone wasn’t writing a feature called “OLD BOOKS.” Furthermore, I began to think again about the sale and closure of the former Fraser-Hickson Library, the community’s loss of access to more than 170,000 mostly “old” books (including rare antiquities), and what, if anything, could be done about it — besides “weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” Also, because public libraries are more and more oriented toward “NEW BOOKS”, and so many so often claim that libraries and library services have outworn their usefulness as relevant repositories and resources of research, knowledge and experience, since the advent of the Internet.
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$"/>It dawned on me that despite NDG’s increasing general level of poverty, demoralization and decay, there remain many people in the community with their own home libraries, and that most people have at least a few books. Moreover, I thought, given NDG’s multicultural and multilingual composition, it seems to me that people’s interests and tastes ought necessarily to be pretty wide and far ranging, and, if willingly shared, their books would become community-, mind- and life-expanding. With that in mind, a couple of us began thinking about what would happen if the community got together to share some of its books with one another using the Internet, and how we could go about accomplishing it.
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$"/>We came up with the idea for a kind of free community library, called Bibliothèques sans Frontiéres. So, to get started building it, and at the same time rebuilding and connecting our community, we’re looking for some fresh, committed, eager, community-oriented, positive people who want to get involved. We’re looking for volunteer, “can-do” and “how-to” people — critical thinkers, for sure; not nay-sayers — we’re not interested in why and how come it can’t be done; we’re looking for people who will get involved, and DO IT! If the idea interests you and you can make the time to get together, sit down, establish an organizing committee and go over things like: how to ensure books are cared for and returned promptly; where and how books can be ordered, picked up and/or delivered; length of loan period, and technical matters like compiling a library catalogue and accessing it via the Internet, and so on, then, please, contact me at seedsofknowledge@hotmail.com and we’ll get together and get started.
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$"/>Meanwhile, if you have books, and are interested and willing to participate, then consider your own “Top-10” list of books that you would be willing to loan, and get started. First, make a list, using the following simple formula for each book:
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$"/>LANGUAGE:
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$"/>Author:
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$"/>Title:
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$"/>Publisher:
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$"/>Date of Publication:
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$"/>Hard/Soft Cover:
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$"/>Number of Pages:
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$"/>Next: Forward your “Top-10” list to the e-mail address above and we’ll begin compiling a library catalogue for circulation, first, among and limited to, e-mailing participants — ourselves. Then, we’ll see about expanding it. Perhaps, eventually, we’ll include CDs, DVDs, etc. Vive la bibliothèque libre!
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$"/>Matt Trowell is an NDG resident and community activist who was a leader in the fight to save the Fraser-Hickson Library.
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2008-01-30 11:45:19
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